No 10 confirms plans for more Rwanda-style deals to deport asylum seekers from UK – politics live

Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, has recorded an interview for broadcasters about today’s Bank of England interest rate hike. The news was going to be “very tough” for families, he said.

When it was put to him that Tory policies had contributed to the problem, Hunt did not dispute that, but he did insist his party was doing something about it. He said:

What my party has done is put in place a new prime minister. We also have a new chancellor of the exchequer.

Today’s news is going to be very tough for families with mortgages up and down the country, for businesses with loans.

But there is a global economic crisis, the International Monetary Fund say a third of the world’s economy is now in recession.

The best thing the government can do if we want to bring down these rises in interest rates is to show that we are bringing down our debt. Families up and down the country have to balance their accounts at home and we must do the same as a government.

When it was put to him again that this was not just a global crisis, and that the Conservative party was to blame for the “very significant” UK component to the problem, Hunt said that Rishi Sunak accepted that when he became prime minister, and that Sunak said he was there to fix it. Hunt also said that, as chancellor, he had reversed decisions taken by his predecessor.

When Liz Truss was prime minister she said the government was considering relocating the British embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This is one of the many Truss policies that has now been abandoned, because Downing Street said today that the proposal had been considered and that there were “no plans to move the British embassy”.

A teenage boy was allegedly raped by a man in his 30s at a hotel used to house refugees in east London, and another alleged sexual assault against a child is said to have taken place at the same facility, my colleagues Emine Sinmaz and Jessica Elgot report.

The Labour MP Stella Creasy, who represents Walthamstow, where the attacks allegedly happened, said Suella Braverman, the home secretary, should resign or be sacked because of her failure to ensure the safety of refugee children. She told the Guardian:

These incidents underline just how important it is that those who have responsibilities towards these children do so with the professionalism and compassion they deserve. The home secretary has failed on all counts – if she had an ounce of integrity she would step down, and if she doesn’t the prime minister owes these children the duty of care that been missing to date and must remove her from her post.

The Home Office expects “urgent action” to be taken in response to a report saying a failure of leadership, and vetting procedures, has allowed a culture of misogyny and predatory behaviour to flourish in the police, MPs have been told.

Responding to an urgent question about the report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, which was published yesterday, Chris Philp, a Home Office minister, said that Suella Braverman, the home secretary, had made it clear that “things must change” in response to the findings.

He told MPs:

There are 43 recommendations. Three of those are for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, nine of them are for the College of Policing, 28 of them are for chief constables and three of them are for the Home Office.

The Home Office will most certainly be implementing those three recommendations.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council said in a statement yesterday they expect police to act on their recommendations urgently and that is most certainly my expectation as well that all of these recommendations will be acted on as a matter of urgency.

He added: “We do expect urgent action to be taken on these areas.”

Sarah Jones, the shadow Home Office minister, accused the government of failing to “lead from the front” in terms of addressing the problems outlined in the report. She said the report was a record of failure.

Keir Starmer says people are now paying a “Tory premium” on their mortgages because of the government’s economic record. In an interview on Times Radio, commenting on today’s 0.75-percentage-point Bank of England interest rate hike – the largest for more than 30 years – Starmer said:

It’s been hard enough already – this is going to make things much, much harder. And this isn’t just about what’s happening this week or next week, this has been 12 years now of utter failure from this government.

We haven’t had sufficient growth in the economy for over a decade. And that’s left us more exposed than other countries. There is a Tory premium now on mortgages, and families will look at [interest rates], know how difficult things are now and shudder that, because of the failure of the last 12 years, working families across the country can be paying the price.

Eamon Courtenay, the foreign minister of Belize, has denied a report in the Daily Express saying that his country could sign a deal with the UK to take is asylum seekers, like Rwanda. (See 12.30pm.) He says such a policy would be “inhumane” and contrary to international law.

At the No 10 lobby briefing Downing Street also sought to repair relations with Albania, saying the government was “extremely grateful” to it for its cooperation on asylum matters.

Yesterday Edi Rama, the Albanian prime minister, used Twitter to accuse the UK government of using his country’s citizens as scapegoats for failed immigration policies. He said repeatedly blaming Albanians for the UK’s border problems was “insane”.

Later, in an interview on Newsnight, Rama said that Britain was becoming “like a madhouse”.

But at the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning the spokesperson declined invitations to hit back. Instead, in a clear sign the government would like to de-escalate the row, she praised Albania. She said:

We remain extremely grateful for the cooperation of the Albanian government, we have a strong working relationship with them, which we would want to continue to build on.

In the Commons on Monday, Suella Braverman, the home secretary, said that, with help from the Albanian authorities, the government was having “some success’” in returning people who did not qualify for asylum to Albania quickly.

Downing Street has confirmed that the government is trying to find other countries willing to follow Rwanda and reach an agreement with the UK to take people crossing the Channel in small boats and hoping to claim asylum.

In the Daily Express David Maddox says Paraguay is the country closest to signing a deal. Peru and Belize are also possible locations, he reports.

At the No 10 lobby briefing, a Downing Street spokesperson would not deny the report. She went on:

We do plan to negotiate similar deals with other countries, akin to the Rwanda partnership, but it’s not helpful for us to comment on speculation around potential discussions.

Lord Ashcroft, the former Tory deputy chairman with extensive business interests in Belize, says he does not think it will be taking any asylum seekers.

The Bank of England has raised interest rates by 0.75 percentage points to 3% to calm inflation that has soared this year in response to spiralling energy and food bills, my colleague Phillip Inman reports. His story is here.

Graeme Wearden has more coverage on his business live blog.